Since I started this blog, I have promoted my view that, in society, we are all consumers - and that professional marketing and advertising, and 'upstream creative thinking', could be better employed for the good of society as a whole. All of us...

Next month, NHS midwives across England will vote on taking industrial action against their employers. It is the first time in the RCM's 133-year history that we have asked our members to do this. It is not something we take lightly, but midwives and maternity support workers are at breaking point.

As Simon Stevens makes his first major speech as CEO of NHS England, he has a challenge to change a system that lets our most vulnerable people down. With its' approach comprised of too many disconnected services, our health and care services are antiquated and no longer fit for purpose.

Charging people £10 a month would breach the fundamental principle of equity on which the NHS is based. £10 per month may not be much for some people but it is a lot for people on low incomes, on top of all the other rising living charges they face.

As a British citizen, it's sad to see Obamacare hopelessly floundering. When Obama triumphantly signed the Bill into law in 2010, it's doubtful that even he could have imagined how his Administration-defining Affordable Healthcare Act would become such a cancer on America...

The UK's National Health Service is sixty-five years old and the government seems intent on retiring it, on forcing it out of the work place, bit by bit. But the NHS was born out of values and principles that the passage of time can never defeat.

We are so lucky, compared to many countries across the globe, where getting treatment when you're sick, delivering a baby or getting medicines for a poorly child are commodities that can only be bought by those with money, rather than being the birthright of everyone.

Recent events reveal we can't complacently leave the NHS in the hands of the bureaucrats and the politicians. Our experience is they have created a culture of fear and bullying whereby good clinicians are persecuted for standing up for patients or medical science.

The work life balance of our nation is incredibly important if we are to ensure economic growth. Longer working hours may enable increased productivity but only as a short-term measure. We are not robots. Eventually our systems fail and everything will come crashing to a standstill unless we find way to preserve health and wellbeing as a priority.